Author Archives: Russ Crest

Post navigation

Everytime I see something visually stunning these days it seems to come from Tokyo. They entire city appears to be on a mission to bring visual beauty and creative inginuity to the dullest facets of life. For instance we are all familiar with the drab and boring Information Kiosks that can be found in malls all over the world. Instead of creating one more boring kiosk for us to walk by Japanese architecture firm Torafu Architects has created this gorgeous piece of mini architecture called Waku Waku Station (literally, “excitement” station). Taking inspiration from yachts, boats, houses and buildings found in the malls waterfront scenery the kiosk is transformed into a colorful playground to attract kids and their parents to find out about what the area offers. There’s lots of fun hiding spots and small doors (just like a boat!) for kids to play with and there’s even giant building blocks for them to push around and climb on top of. Lets hope this push to bring color and creativity to all the mundane things in life can catch on everywhere else. (via)

Currently Trending

Hungarian photographer Flora Borsi has come up with a hilarious small series of works that shows us how photoshop would work in real life. Shorten your nose in just a few clicks and cover up that massive pimple on your face with the help of the patch tool. Oh if only life was so easy! (via)

Currently Trending

In October 2012, the letters “S.O.S.” were carved into the ground of Western Sahara/Algeria near the Saharaui refugee camp Smara by Santiago Sierra. The graffiti measures 5 km x 1,7 km, which makes it the largest graffiti in the world.

The piece refers to the Saharaui peoples struggle for independence from Moroccan rule in the almost forgotten West Saharan conflict. For 36 years they have lived in makeshift conditions under the provisional arrangement of the refugee camps in the Sahara desert, south east of Tindouf.

We wish there were more images available of this piece but for now you just have the following measurements to help give you the scale of this massive piece of graffiti that can be seen from space. (via)

Currently Trending

Love these book alterations and rearrangements by New York based artist Kent Rogowski. Make sure to also check out his puzzle manipulations and inverted stuffed animals also featured on his site. (via)

“Everything that I wish I could be is an exploration of language, emotions and the desire to change and improve one’s self. There is a self-help book for almost every moment and problem in life; from relationship advice to dealing with the inevitability of death. Each large format photograph, pictures an arrangement of title pages and spines, from up to 100 self-help books that are based around a central theme. Together, the titles create larger narratives, which become portraits of emotions, people and events in life.

Because of the ubiquity of the books, an entire lifetime of events can be outlined and made to unfold using the books that were written to sooth those transitions and moments. Since advice often differs, the narratives in the images can change depending on which direction the viewer’s eye moves through the image. Some images have linear narratives (e.g.: From Birth to Death or Side by Side) while others look at patterns in language and resemble the random connections inherent in the thought process (e.g.: You and Me and Am I the only one?).

I am interested in the larger questions of how we communicate and deal with moments of pain and change and the commonalities of those experiences, as well as, the patterns and contradictions that are often inherent in language, advice and differing philosophies.”

Currently Trending

Michigan based installation artist Michael McGillis’ creates incredibly saturated alterations in nature with a diverse range of materials from paint to electric tape to fluorescent colored grocery bags. The result is an electric manipulation of the natural world that is shockingly beautiful. (via)

Currently Trending

Built in 1995 in the Austrian village of Wattens, Swarovski World is perhaps the worlds most unusual Flagship store/theme park. Designed by multimedia artist André Heller, the site features 14 underground chambers of wonder dedicated to the versatile artistic interpretation of the material crystal. The result is a universe of discoveries and a simply unique experience that is a must see for your next Austrian vacation.

Some of our favorite Attractions at Swarovski World include:

Crystal Dome: With 590 mirrors covering its walls, the Crystal Dome offers a kaleidoscope rich with colours: light is reflected in all facets. This breathtaking spectacle is stylishly accentuated with music by Brian Eno.

Mechanical Theater: The desire for transformation, passion and erotic fantasies excites people – and also the mechanical world of Jim Whiting. An Adonis and the graceful Walking Woman represent the male-female relationship and form the central motif of the British artist’s stomping, leaping installation. However, the mechanical theatre could also be described as a surreal fashion show in which rigid things suddenly spring to life and clothes fly and dance through the air as if by magic.

Crystaloscope: The crystaloscope is the biggest kaleidoscope in the world. Upon taking a look inside, the harmonizing power of crystal becomes perceivable to body and soul. The installation, designed by André Heller and therapist Peter Mandl, casts endless variations of images that appear from the ever emerging crystal formations.

Watch a video of Swarovski World and see more pictures after the jump! (via)

Currently Trending

London based collobrative group rAndom International’s interactive installation Rain Room allows you to have the luxury of walking through the rain without getting a single drop on you. Rain Room is a hundred square metre field of falling water through which it is possible to walk, trusting that a path can be navigated, without being drenched in the process.

As you progress through The Curve, the sound of water and a suggestion of moisture fill the air, before you are confronted by this carefully choreographed downpour that responds to your movements and presence. (via)

Currently Trending

Peter Trevelyan’s incredible geometric sculptures are a thing of wonder being created out of fragile pencil lead. Fused together carefully with glue these delicate sculptures come in a range of sizes that will boggle the mind.

Patient careful craftsmanship, the slow meticulous creation of form through the assemblage of repeated elements and an interest in the architecture of space are characteristics of Peter Trevelyan’s elegant, refined works, which speak to the world’s structures but also to fragility and ethereality – both practically and metaphorically.

Forged from in his interest in the history of mathematics Trevelyan’s pieces, large and tiny, transit possibilities from antiquity through utopian architecture to future focused nanotechnology.

Drawing and sculpture are entwined in Peter Trevelyan’s practice with both two and three-dimensional works ‘drawn’ in fine pencil lead or created with paper. An investigation of the role of drawing is at the heart of his work. As he has said:

“A drawing is a plan, a preliminary visualisation of something to be undertaken in the physical world. Drawing is an ancient technology, a system for postulating, organising and mapping information about the physical world and manipulating it in order to change or affect that world.” (via)